Name: Date:

Middle School Physical Science

Acceleration
Directions: Read and follow the directions below to complete this activity.

I. Introduction
Acceleration is the rate of change in the speed of an object. You witness various accelerations every day and
likely do not even realize it. Below are just a few examples of objects and their accelerations. This assignment
tasks you with finding an object’s acceleration given a specific scenario question.

Use the following formula to determine the object’s rate of acceleration. The units for acceleration are meters per
second squared, or m/s2.

final speed - beginning speed

Acceleration = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
time

v2 - v1
a = -------------------------
t
Name: Date:
Middle School Physical Science
II. Acceleration Problems
Read the questions below. Answer each question based on the information given in the described scenario. Show
Acceleration
all of your work.

Directions:1.Read and
A follow the directions
race car’s below tofrom
speed increases complete thistoactivity.
15 m/s 85 m/s in 10 seconds. What is its acceleration?

Show Your Work

2. As she climbs a hill, a cyclist slows down from 25 mph to 6 mph in 10 seconds. What is her acceleration?

Show Your Work

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 Name: Date:
Middle School Physical Science
Acceleration
Directions: Read and follow the directions below to complete this activity.

3. After traveling for six seconds, a runner reaches a speed of 10 m/s. What is the runner’s acceleration?

Show Your Work

4. A

skateboarder traveling at 7 m/s rolls to a stop at the top of a ramp in three seconds. What is the skateboarder’s
acceleration? (Hint: Because the skateboarder is slowing down, you may have a negative acceleration.)

Show Your Work

5. A roller coaster car rapidly speeds up as it rolls down the first big drop. Its speed is 5 m/s as it starts
down the hill. After 10 seconds, its speed is 40 m/s at the bottom of the hill. What is the roller coaster
car’s acceleration?

Show Your Work

Copyright 2018 © Lincoln Learning Solutions. All rights reserved.
 Name: Date:
Middle School Physical Science
Acceleration
Directions: Read and follow the directions below to complete this activity.

6.
Matthew is

running down the sidewalk at 2 m/s. He sees a friend on the sidewalk and starts sprinting. After 10 seconds have passed,
Matthew is running 15 m/s. What is Matthew’s acceleration?

Show Your Work

7. A fighter jet landing on an aircraft carrier flight deck that has a length of 300 m must reduce its
speed from 42.5 m/s to 0 m/s in two seconds. What is the jet’s acceleration during this process?
(Hint: Because the jet is slowing down, you may have a negative acceleration.)

Show Your work

Copyright 2018 © Lincoln Learning Solutions. All rights reserved.